It still baffles me that The Redwalls weren\u2019t huge.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that their sound was ever original\u2014quite the opposite. The entire point of the Redwalls was to create new music using familiar vintage sounds, melding the instruments, styles, arrangements and even vocal affectations of the Beatles, Stones, Kinks and Faces to craft new songs for a new generation of listeners.<\/p>\n
Done poorly, of course, this could be disastrous, a lame attempt at homage that sounds like a bad cover band suddenly switching to originals. But the Redwalls didn\u2019t<\/i> do it poorly; they did it as well as anyone ever has, not just recreating classic \u201960s tones and sounds but writing dynamic original songs in those styles and performing them with evangelical fervor.<\/p>\n
Their single major label album De Nova<\/i> (2005) and its indie sequel The Redwalls<\/i> (2007) illustrated the potential of this approach in technicolor, delivering catchy, memorable new songs that nonetheless felt like old friends, wrapped as they were in familiar sounds. Universal Blues<\/i> is where the band began, the indie debut that first caught the attention of folks at Capitol Records.<\/p>\n
They lead off with the best song here, \u201cColorful Revolution,\u201d which also offers a sort of executive summary of the Redwalls as a band: jangly rhythm guitar with little \u201cweeping\u201d lead guitar accents from Andrew Langer; cleverly arranged, alternating solo and gang vocals led by Logan Baren\u2019s distinctly Lennon-esque nasal delivery; simple, effective blues-shuffle drums from Jordan Kozer; single-chord percussive piano lurking deep in the mix; and then at the very heart of the song, brother Justin Baren\u2019s bounding, bubbly bassline that borrows more than a little from \u201cOb-la-di Ob-la-da.\u201d When you get to the chorus and hear Baren singing about revolution, there\u2019s nothing left to do but smile and go look for your vinyl copy of Rubber Soul<\/i>. <\/p>\n
They go a little bluesier for \u201cYou\u2019ll Never Know,\u201d adding heavier guitar, Hammond organ and some \u201choo hoo\u201d background vocal accents lifted right out of \u201cSympathy For The Devil.\u201d Batting third, \u201cIt\u2019s Alright\u201d is an upbeat rocker whose hooky, rather Yardbirds-ish energy won it a spot on De Nova<\/i> (along with the lovely lost Lennon ballad \u201cHow The Story Goes,\u201d also first heard here).<\/p>\n